


Learn Your Loyalties

by the_overlord



Series: Tumblr Fics [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M, also posted on Tumblr, just a short fic, of what I want to happen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-25
Updated: 2014-06-25
Packaged: 2018-02-06 05:44:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1846540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_overlord/pseuds/the_overlord
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>'Derek doesn’t really know how they ended up here. Two sides facing off at one in the morning in an abandoned parking lot, Derek standing in between them, young and conflicted, torn between what he knows and what he doesn’t.'</p><p>Newly de-aged Derek has to choose between Kate and the pack.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Learn Your Loyalties

**Author's Note:**

> Just a stupid little thing about what I want to happen next week. We'll have to see if I'm a prophet or not.

Derek doesn’t really know how they ended up here. Two sides facing off at one in the morning in an abandoned parking lot, Derek standing in between them, young and conflicted, torn between what he knows and what he doesn’t.

He wants to trust Kate. She’s the only one he knows, the only person he recognises, and even though everything’s kind of hazy in his mind, he knows he loves her. Or that he loved her. Well, he knows there’s something there. And she’d said it too, told him that they were together like he’d remembered, that she loves him and they’re married, had been for years, and that she’d stand by him and help him get through this. Help him get back to normal.

He desperately wanted to go back to normal.

Across the lot the pack were gathered, five of them lined up in a loose formation. Kate had told him they were the enemy. She’d told him it wasn’t safe here, that the others were feeding him lies. She’d said it was them that had done this too him, trying to make him vulnerable so they could tear the two of them apart. She’d pleaded with him to come with her as the others had shouted counter arguments at her and Derek had just stood there between them, small and confused.

In return they’d pleaded too. Begging Derek to believe them when they told him not to trust her. They told him she’d done evil things, things that made his throat hurt and his head spin. He couldn’t reconcile what they were saying about her to what he knew about her and it only made him more confused. They tell him that his place is with them, that he’s part of their pack, that he’s the one that brought them together in the first place. Both sides talk and talk until they have nothing more to say, until Derek’s lost amongst the shouting, until they both fall silent.

Derek looks between the two sides. Scott and Kira are staring past him, glaring at Kate, and Lydia is on the phone talking rapidly through the speaker to Deaton on the other end. Only Stiles is looking directly at him, eyes desperate with _something_ , Malia holding him back. For a second they hold eye contact and Derek’s heart beats painfully in his chest, but he tears his eyes away looking towards Kate instead.

She’s smiling, soft and warm, and he feels himself moving before he realises what he’s really doing. It’s just so familiar and he feels so lost. Behind him he hears the others call his name as he turns his back on them, hears Stiles’ ‘No Derek, please don’t do it’ but he carries on even as his chest clenches at the broken words. She reaches out for him as he moves closer, smile widening like she’s won something, but he stops just out of reach. He needs to know.

'You say you love me right? That we've been together for years?'

Kate nods.

'Ok, what's my favourite colour?'

Her brow furrows in confusion but he lifts an eyebrow expectantly and she sighs.

'Black.'

His heart drops and he shakes his head sadly. Behind him Stiles corrects her, his voice emotionless as he bites out the word ‘green’ under his breath.

'What's my favourite food?'

Kate shifts, smile becoming forced.

'Uh my Derek loves steak, but you know food tastes change so maybe it's different for you at this age.'

He doesn’t even have a chance to say anything before Stiles corrects her again just loud enough for him to hear with his advanced hearing.

'No, it's his mom's blueberry muffins. That would never change.'

Kate can’t hear Stiles from where she’s standing though, so Derek humours her, let’s her think that maybe she’s winning, because that’s obviously what this is to her, a _game_.

'Ok, that's a fair point, tastes do change. Here’s one though, when's my  _birthday_?'

What was left of Kate's smile drops away instantly. She glances off to the side obviously trying to dredge up long forgotten information and Derek feels his stomach drop to basement level as he realises beyond a doubt that she was lying. That the others were right. That she was using him and he almost fell for it.

He wants to be sick when he realises she must have been lying about his family too, they hadn't moved away, Kate hadn't called them, they weren't on their way like she'd said. She’d killed them and she’d tried to do the same to him.

She stutters out a random date trying to sound confident but he shakes his head bitterly. 

'You know, you'd think you'd know that considering you told me we were  _married_?' He glances over his shoulder. 'What about you, do you know when my birthday is?'

They all nod, Malia excluded, but Derek understands that - from what he's been told she knows him no better than he knows her - and Stiles lifts his eyes from where they'd been staring at Derek's shoes.

'December 25th'

He's right of course, and the others nod along, but Derek was expecting that. It's clear now that they know him. That they’d been the ones telling the truth. In front of him Kate snarls, her pretty face contorted. She obviously hadn’t expected him to ask questions, she thought he was stupid, easy to manipulate. She’d almost been right. He flinches away as she reaches for him, all his instincts firing at once, telling him to back the hell up, to get to the others.

He doesn't need to go far.

He's only retreated 4 steps before he's standing in line with the pack.  _His_  pack, Scott with his fangs out, Kira brandishing a lethal looking sword, Malia's claws glinting in the streetlamp light and Stiles waving his baseball bat like he's looking to kill. When Derek steps in beside him Stiles loosens one hand from his death grip on his bat to grip Derek by the shoulder, drawing him into his heat. Into his safety. Derek feels his chest clench as he stares into Stiles' relieved face and he wonders what that is all about. Feels like maybe there's something he's missing.

He doesn't get a chance to question it though, instead he’ distracted by the surge of warmth that courses through him as Scott speaks up, voice fierce around his fangs.

'He's not yours Kate and we're not letting you take him. We know who you are, we know what you've done, and we're not going to let you hurt him again. If you want a fight, you've got one, but right now I suggest you leave before we tear you apart.'

For a second she looks ready to argue but then Scott lets out a roar that shakes the asphalt and she backs away, smart enough not to turn her back on enemies. Because it was clear that was what she was now, his enemy. Their enemy.

As he watches Kate walk away Derek has no doubt that she'll be back. She always fought for what she wanted, never backed down from anything. He used to love that about her, now he knew it was only going to hurt him.

The hand on his shoulder squeezed down and he turned to look at Stiles, he looked weary but happy.

'Come on small fry, time to get you to Deaton and figure out how to get our Derek back.'

He smiled at Stiles, noticing idly when Stiles’ heart blipped in his chest and his eyes widened slightly, but he did as he was told and climbed into the car. He got the feeling again that he was missing something, it lingered uncomfortably.

He stared out the window as the Jeep roared to life.

'You ok man?'

Derek sniffed, nodding without turning away from the window.

'Yeah, just wondering what happens if he can't change me back?'

Stiles said nothing, veering right at an intersection. Derek wiped at the steam that he'd breathed onto the window, idly drawing faces onto the glass. After a second he found himself speaking again, voice low and barely audible.

'I don't like being like this, not knowing who I am now, missing huge chunks of my life. I don't feel right, it feels like I'm only half a person. It feels wrong. I don't know what I'll do if he can't do anything. I miss being me.'

For a second he thought Stiles wasn't going to answer, that it was something that would be left there to hang in the silence, but eventually he sighed.

'Yeah, I miss you too Derek. And I don’t care what it takes, I promise we’re going to get you back.’


End file.
